Title: Pieces of Blue - Chapter 9
By Ashley Delfín
Notes: I must warn you this is my least favorite chapter, but things are going to start getting interesting in the next one. Remember to drop a line in the forum about what you thought! Typos can be blamed on my shonen, who keep on distracting me when I write.

---

"Dinner will be ready in fifteen!" Mrs. Alegria yelled from the kitchen, and several ok's were heard around the house.

"Ow," Amaranth complained as his sister placed an ice bag on his foot.

"Well, the swelling's almost completely gone, but mom thinks we should go get it checked up tomorrow," Amis said, sitting besides her brother on his bed. They both had changed into their pajamas, which meant pastel pink pants and top for Amis and a pair of shorts and an old t-shirt for Amaranth.

"This is all Roberto's fault," Amaranth said through clenched teeth.

"Not like he didn't offer to help," Amis replied. "Not his fault you go all bonkers when someone mentions your shortness." Amaranth rolled his eyes and let out an exasperated sigh.

"It seems our team reunion will have to be tomorrow," Amis said. "And before Laura gets here."

"Laura's coming?" Amaranth asked, not sounding too pleased. "Laura Lua?"

"Yes, and mom wants us to be nice to her," Amis said.

"'Nice' I can do, but the moment she gets too huggy I'll have one of my bears terrorize her with a spork," Amaranth said, looking at his stuffed bears. There was not too much movement. Amaranth had asked them to stay calm since any non-team members could walk in without much notice.

"Remember she has a rabbit phobia," Amis said.

"Amis, you know my magick doesn't work that well with non-bear plushies," Amaranth said. "The worst I could do is have your stuffed bunny do a half-hop towards her before it went inert again."

"Which would be enough to scare her senseless." Amis smiled.

Amaranth laughed, and laid back on his bed. His sister did the same besides him.

"You know," she said. "You never did tell me what you thought of the list I gave you."

"Which list?"

"What do you mean, 'which list'?" Amis asked, obviously angry.

"Amis, you make lists out of everything. I get two of those lists per day," Amaranth responded. "At least," he added as an afterthought.

"I do not make that many lists," Amis said, crossing her arms.

"Amis, you even have a list of lists you should make in the near-future." Amaranth sighed. "Don't try to deny it, I've seen it on your door."

"Well, somebody in the team has to keep things organized." Amis shifted so she was lying on her side, staring at her brother. "And I meant the list you asked me to do."

"Oh, yeah," Amaranth said, opening his eyes. "The one with all the stuff that got stolen."

"Yes?"

"I went over it with Esper."

"And?"

"And the Lua's stuff wasn't stolen from the museum," Amaranth said. "And it also was some of the most valuable stuff there."

"I know," Amis replied.

"You know," Amaranth said. "The museum was robbed twice, and if the first time was like the one we saw then those monsters weren't really looking at what they were taking."

"So you're saying they messed up twice in the museum?" Amis asked.

"Yes, and since all the remaining stuff was given back after the second robbery, well they just went to the Lua's," Amaranth stated.

"That's just what I thought," Amis said, smiling.

"The question still is how do they get in without making all the alarms go off..." Amaranth said. "Books aren't much help there. Some monsters can walk through walls, others appear from shadows, from inside closets, under the bed, teleportation, or just because someone in the house imagined it and that brought it to life."

"But you saw the illustration in Cee Cee's book, that was just like the things we saw."

"Yes, but all it tells us is that everything that applies to monsters could apply to them, and you know there are many monster species still unknown to humans," Amaranth said.

"Look here," Amis said, taking a printout from out of her pocket, Amaranth looked at it.

"This is the necklace and earrings that the Lua's let the museum borrow, right?" Amaranth asked, looking at the image of a large necklace made out of gold, and rubies. In the middle there was one large ruby surrounded by many small diamonds.

"Yes," Amis said, "pretty valuable stuff here. The Lua's keep it in their safe most of the time."

Something clicked in Amaranth's head. "What?" he asked as he sat up.

"The necklace," Amis said.

"No, you said they keep it in their safe," Amaranth said.

"Yes, well, this sort of thing you can't have lying around," Amis said, her tone obviously sarcastic.

"Cee Cee's mom only mentioned Mrs. Lua's jewelry box being gone," Amaranth said.

Amis sat up. "That's true! And none of the articles I've read mention anything about the safe."

"And when I saw Laura yesterday she only mentioned her mom's jewelry," Amaranth sat down besides Amis.

"Did she say anything else?"

"Just some dumb stuff about us being like family and then Roberto came along and-"

Somebody knocked on Amaranth's door and the albino motioned for his bears to calm down. Amis opened the door and Cee Cee walked in. She was wearing a pair of Amaranth's shorts and one of his t-shirts.

"Your cousin," she said to Amis. "Wants you to hand her a towel."

"Why didn't you hand her one?" Amis asked.

"I was going to, but as soon as I entered the bathroom she screamed," Cee Cee replied, glaring at no one in particular. "How could you not hear it?"

"We put a soundproof spell on the room for the meeting we were going to have," Amaranth explained.

"Convenient," Cee Cee said. "Look, not that I care, but Quinoa's in the bathroom."

Amis walked out, humming a song.

"How can she stand her?" Cee Cee asked as she closed Amaranth's door. "I can't be in the same room with Quinoa for five minutes before I get an urge to strangle her with my socks."

"Well, my sister might not like to be too social, but she's got lots of patience for people," Amaranth explained. "She also tries to be positive about stuff."

"Well, I guess that makes sense," Cee Cee said. "Want to go down? I'm starving and the sooner we get there, the sooner we eat."

"Sure."

Amaranth stood up and tested his foot. Luckily it didn't hurt as much anymore and he could walk without help. They exited Amaranth's room at the same time Quinoa was walking out of Amis' room, followed by Amis. The cheerleader was wearing a long black t-shirt and a pair of pink shorts. At the sight of Cee Cee, she looked away and walked right past Amaranth and Cee Cee, without saying a word.

"What's up with her?" Cee Cee asked, once Quinoa had gone downstairs.

"Well, she's mad at you because you invaded her privacy and she's mad at Amaranth because he didn't run off to rescue her when she yelled," Amis explained.

"Of course if I would've gone it would be ages before she forgave me for entering the bathroom while she was taking a shower," Amaranth said, looking annoyed at the direction of the stairs. "She'd also give me hell about my running with a hurt foot."

"Difficult to please, isn't she?" Cee Cee asked.

"To be fair, that's a common trait in our family," Amaranth answered, following his cousin.

-----

Amaranth felt something hit his ribs, and woke up just in time to realize he was falling off his bed. He tried to grab on to something, but he only managed to pull his pillow down with him. He stood up and glared at Matt and Esper, who had taken over his bed. He decided to take revenge once they were awake. Matt was scary when you woke him up before the sun rose.

He felt his mouth dry and walked over to the desk, where he usually kept a pitcher full of water. It was empty. He groaned and decided to go downstairs, at least his foot didn't hurt now.

Amis and Amaranth's room were connected almost directly to the kitchen, the only thing they had to go through once they crossed their small living room and were down the stairs was a room with windowed walls that was used as a greenhouse/workshop that also led to the basement, where the laundry room was.

He entered the kitchen and headed straight for the cupboards. He remembered the sort of chaotic dinner they had had there a few hours ago. At least Roberto had been too busy eating to notice him glancing Leonard's way every minute or so. Although it was weird how the soccer player felt Cee Cee was more a threat to him than Leonard.

He suddenly remembered that both Leonard and Roberto were asleep in one of the guest rooms. Each of their five guest rooms had two beds so it really made no sense to prepare two of them. Matt and Esper had sneaked to his room by a sort of hidden door in the library, which solved the issue of having to answer Roberto why he couldn't sleep in Amaranth's room.

"Knew you'd be here."

Amaranth nearly had a heart attack when he heard those words. He turned around and saw Cee Cee sitting at the table. He turned the light on and noticed she had a bowl with the remains of some cereal in it.

"You nearly killed me there, Cee," Amaranth said, this time opening the cupboard and taking out a glass.

"Sorry," Cee Cee said, although her smile made Amaranth doubt if she actually was. "Couldn't sleep?"

"I was sound asleep, but then Matt kicked me out of the bed," Amaranth said, as he took some juice out of the fridge.

"Since when do you care what Matt tells you to do?"

"No, I mean he literally kicked me out of bed. Right on the ribs, too."

Cee Cee laughed and Amaranth smiled as he sat besides her.

"How about you?" Amaranth asked, after having drunk some juice. "Hope it's not insomnia again."

"Nah, just had a weird feeling about tomorrow, so I'm making a quick prediction," Cee Cee said, looking back at the remains of her cereal.

"Do you see anything?"

"Nothing too revealing. I see a visit."

"Laura," both of them said in unison.

"And a reunion, our meeting and, soon, the beginning of a journey," Cee Cee turned the bowl around.

"A journey?"

"A dangerous one," Cee Cee added.

They were both silent for a few seconds, looking at each other.

"Well, Roberto did offer to drive you home," Amaranth said. "And any journey where he drives is bound to be a dangerous one."

"Maybe I should try it with tea leaves, or turkish coffee." Cee Cee sighed, pushing her plate aside.

"Cee, just because your parents don't think the cereal is any good doesn't mean it isn't," Amaranth said. "It's helped us loads."

"I know, but I can't understand why I can only predict stuff in cereal and cookie crumbs."

"Think of it as the technique evolving. Who uses tea leaves and grinds his own coffee nowadays? No one! Cereal and cookies are everywhere. Plus, they taste good."

Cee Cee smiled lazily and put an arm around Amaranth's neck. The smaller albino rested his head on her shoulder.

"You're too good," Cee Cee said, squeezing Amaranth a bit tighter.

"Just to you, and that's because you're my best friend," Amaranth replied.

"And because I can totally break your rib cage if you're anything but nice to me," Cee Cee added.

"Well, there's a little of that, yes. Fear for your own life always puts friendships in perspective."

Cee Cee let out a snort.

"We should go to bed," Amaranth went on. "Laura's coming tomorrow and we should have our meeting before breakfast."

"Right," Cee Cee said, standing up. "Do you think Laura will be bringing that thing she brings to school everyday?"

"What thing?"

"That bear she carries around. It's kinda creepy considering it's all old and, really, why would anyone-"

"Cherry Chocolate Cookie Dough!" Amaranth whispered excitedly.

"Sudden ice cream craving?" Cee Cee asked.

"No, well, now that you mention it... but no! Cherry Chocolate Cookie Dough is Laura's teddy bear."

Cee Cee raised an eyebrow, but then she realized what Amaranth was talking about and she let out an understanding "Oh".

"Why didn't I think of this before?" Amaranth asked, more to himself than Cee Cee, remembering the thing that had reached for his leg on Friday.

"You mean we have inside help?" Cee Cee asked.

"Well, we at least have a witness... and I don't know if Cherry Chocolate would be too eager to help me after what I've been saying about Laura... and what I used to do to her," Amaranth said, looking guilty.

"It couldn't be that bad," Cee Cee said.

"Well, I just hope he's forgotten about the kidnapping incident."

"You kidnapped Laura's bear?" Cee Cee said, completely surprised. "I always pictured you like the perfect little boy.

"Well, it was Caesar's idea," Amaranth explained. "He and Victor didn't have to listen to the poor bear's complaints."

"How come it didn't run for it when you were near him?"

"He was tied up by then... very tied up... Caesar really knew how to tie stuff so it wouldn't move, and it was amazing what he did to that bear while I pretended to be looking for something to write the ransom note in."

Cee Cee stared at Amaranth. "So, we're going to ask for help from a bear you kidnapped years ago and probably knows every bit of rude comment you've ever said about his owner. At least he wasn't there when you attacked Laura with the mud balls or the balloons filled with blue goo."

Amaranth suddenly looked guilty and his face began turning red.

"Well, you can always beg for forgiveness... or we can force him to talk. Did you learn how to tie bears down from Caesar?"

"We're not going to torture a teddy bear, Cee. No, tomorrow we're going to be nice to Laura, and genuinely concerned for her. Then I'll apologize to Cherry Chocolate, and ask him about the robbery. Hopefully he'll think of it as protecting Laura and he won't thought-torture me."

Cee Cee looked at him strangely.

"It's this... thing. Plushies do it to people who harm their owners. They flood their heads with memories, bad ones," Amaranth shivered a little at that. "Granted, it's much worse when you can share thoughts with them."

"So it's happened to you?" Cee Cee asked.

"Not quite, I managed to shut the thought connection down before it got really bad," Amaranth replied. "Of course I did have to make myself faint for that."

"You mean, when I met you?" Cee Cee looked at him, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah, now that I think of it, yes." Amaranth concentrated on the memory. "Yeah, when I woke up in the infirmary and you came in with Amanda after you fought in P.E."

"We didn't fight, she attacked me and I defended myself," Cee Cee huffed. "And she bit me, too."

Amaranth laughed.

"You were with Caesar at the time, right?" Cee Cee went on.

"Well, we were beginning to have problems," Amaranth said, scratching his arm.

"His ability to tie stuff down?" Cee Cee asked, a smirk crossing her face.

"That was part of the problem, figuratively, of course," Amaranth explained once he had seen Cee Cee's expression of surprise.

"Damn, and I just thought I had found another embarrassing moment to blackmail you with later on."

"Look, even if I had been literally tied down by Caesar, that would be nothing compared to Jacob's-"

"Fine, I get the point. Ex-boyfriend blackmail prohibited due to the fact that my only ex was by far freakier than both of yours."

"Damn right, now let's go to bed."

"I can't go to bed now! You've put Jacob in my head, what if I dream of him?"

"You kill him. You won't go to prison for killing someone in your dreams." Amaranth smiled. "Oh, and tell him he still owes me those ten bucks I lend him."

"I will, probably while I whack him with an iron tube," Cee Cee said, smiling at the idea.